Crazier
by DamonsBourbon
Summary: What happens when Elena goes to college in California, leaving everyone from Mystic Falls behind,coming back a year later for Jeremy's graduation? Sorry, I suck at summaries. M for possible future stuff, who knows..
1. One Year

**AN: This is my first fic ever and I only had the courage to write it thanks to Whitty (northmanwhore on twitter) and to post it because of Jess (RebekahAteMyUN on twitter), so thanks guys.** **NOTE: everything after 3x15 doesn't happen, and Klaus, Elijah, and Kol kill Finn and Esther on the night of her spell in 3x15. Also, we're going to pretend Rebekah didn't promise to torchure Elena for the rest of her life.**

Chapter 1: One Year

_**I'll make a wish **_

_**Take a chance**_

_**Make a change**_

_**And breakaway**_

_**Out of the darkness and into the sun**_

_**I won't forget all the ones that I love**_

It had been a year since she had graduated from high school, a year since she had left Mystic Falls and everyone she cared about most behind. Elena had left for sunny California the moment she got her diploma, in hopes of a new start, leaving all the death and pain behind her. Looking back, something she didn't like to do often, she's still surprised how things worked out so well for everyone else.

Klaus had accepted her deal to send a couple bags of her blood to him once a month in exchange for him not hurting any of her loved ones and most importantly her, not that Caroline would let him anyway. Elena is still baffled by their romance, which had all started when Caroline agreed to let him show her the world once it had become obvious that Tyler wasn't coming back from where ever he disappeared to. Bonnie had accepted the issues with both Damon and Elena about her mom being turned and moved on. She had even decided on going to Duke, just to stay close to Abby. Matt got a full ride football scholarship at the University of Georgia. Elijah and Kol both left to do their own thing, enjoying the freedom of being alive and far away from Klaus. Rebekah had stayed in Mystic Falls to finish off senior year and to be with Stefan. He had been a little hesitant because of his still undefined relationship with Elena, but once Elena had accepted that she and Stefan were never meant to be, she gave them her blessing.

Thinking about everyone always brought back the memory of the day she told them she was going to be going to Stanford…

******** one year ago *******

_Elena looked at the acceptance letter from Stanford for the thousandth time that day. She still couldn't believe that she had been accepted to the college she had wanted to go to since the day her mom had told her she would be a good writer. _

_ She looked up when Alaric knocked on her door, "Elena? Are you coming downstairs? Caroline, Klaus, Bonnie and Matt just got here."_

_ "Oh, yeah, coming." She folded the letter and put it in her pocket as she followed Ric down the stairs to see Jeremy following Stefan and Rebekah into the living room where everyone else was sitting. She could hear someone in the kitchen, presumably Damon, grabbing a glass out of the cupboard. Everyone was looking at her, waiting for her to explain her text that simply said, "Need to talk, come over at 7."_

_ "So, why are we here? Did you find a new death threat? Make a stupid deal with a different Devil?" Damon had finally made his appearance, coming from the kitchen to stand next to the mantle, setting his glass of bourbon down before continuing,"Decide you need all of us to help you dust? Because frankly, this is just gross." He showed everyone the tip of his index finger now covered in dust. _

_ Elena glared at him, "No, Damon, no one is going to die, and just yesterday you were telling me how you had decided Klaus wasn't such a bad guy after all, so don't even go there. And feel free to dust my house when I go to school in California, because I'm sure you'll be missing the days when my near death experiences gave you something to do other than drink all day!" Elena didn't realize what she had said until she saw the blank looks on everyone's faces. All at once they recovered and started yelling at her, _

_ "What about my blood? We had a _deal!"

_ "What do you mean _California_?"_

_ "Why didn't you tell me? This is fantastic!"_

_ "You can't leave me all alone with Ric!"_

_ "I can't take care of Jeremy all by myself!" _

_ "_Thank God_, I thought you would stay here _forever_."_

_ "I don't think going that far away is very safe…"_

_ "NO. YOU ARE _NOT _GOING TO _CALIFORNIA_. END OF STORY, SORRY." Everyone fell silent as Damon blurred to stand directly in front of Elena, continuing his rant, "ARE YOU _STUPID_? DO YOU REALIZE HOW MUCH DANGER THERE COULD BE THERE? JUST BECAUSE KLAUS AND THE OTHER ORIGINALS HAVE CALLED TRUCE DOESN'T MEAN THE REST OF THE WORLD KNOWS OR CARES! YOU'RE THE BIGGEST DANGER MAGNET I'VE EVER MET! YOU CAN'T JUST GO TO CALIFORNIA." _

_ Ric finally pulled Damon away from Elena as Stefan said, "It's her choice Damon, if this is what she wants, let her do it."_

_ Damon turned to glare at Stefan, "You _always _say that! What happened the last time she decided something? Oh yeah, Esther nearly _killed_ all of us! Or all the times we had to trust Elijah because that's what _she wanted_. Remember how _that_ all turned out? John had to die to save Elena, Jenna had to die for the sacrifice, _I_ nearly died, and _you_ were forced to turn Ripper and be Klaus' bitch for six months! You know what that tells me? Every time she makes a life choice, people get hurt!"_

_ "Damon, I'll be fine. I'll take some stakes, vervain and wolfsbane with me. But I need to get away from everything you just listed. Most high school seniors have been worrying about what to wear to prom and hoping the perfect guy would ask them out, while I was hoping I would live through the day! I _need_ at least one year of a normal, _human_ college experience!"_

_ "People _talk_, Elena! Katherine fucked over a lot of people and you look exactly like her! Now that they know she's alive they're going to look at you and see _her! Or, _they'll see the doppelganger that 'Klaus the Evil Original Hybrid' has been looking for, and want to turn you in for some sick reward! It'll just be a repeat of your experience with Rose and What's-His-Name! You won't _get _a _human_ experience, Elena, no matter how hard you try!"_

_ "You know Damon, I take some offense to that title, but he's right Elena. I have been all for the "Take Elena, Give Her A 'Human' Life, All Under My Protection" plan since I found you, but you moving across country does not fit into it. Nor does it fit into our agreement!" _

_ "Klaus! Your 'agreement' with Elena isn't the important thing here! Elena has always wanted to be a writer and this is a great opportunity for her!" Caroline went over to her friend to give her a giant hug, "This will be really good for you. I'm so proud of you, 'Lena." Bonnie joined them then, adding, "We all are." Ric, Jeremy and Matt also got up to join in on the group hug, leaving Klaus, Stefan and Rebekah to watch and Damon to fume._

_ "Fine! Let's all just be happy for Elena and say 'whatever, you die in California, it's not my fault!' Ugh you all disgust me." Damon walked out the front door, ignoring Elena's protests._

It felt like forever since that day, mainly because that had been the last time she had talked to Damon. Every time she talked to Ric or Stefan, she would ask how he was doing, but she always got a version of one of the same three answers; "He's been on a bender all day", "Snarky, same as usual" or her least favorite, "I haven't seen him. He disappeared last night and has yet to answer his phone to tell me where he is". The last answer always worried her the most, she knew he was capable of handling himself but she also knew he liked to get himself into trouble. If he ever told anyone where he went during his disappearances, they didn't tell her, and as she passed the sign welcoming her back to Mystic Falls, she knew that was just one of the answers she was going to get from him.

**Well how'd I do? Read and Review please?**


	2. Chey

Chapter 2: Chey

He knew she was coming back today, everyone did. From the moment Ric found out Elena would be coming for Jeremy's graduation, everyone had been on high alert around him, just waiting for some big reaction. He hated it, hated their doubt in his ability to stay sane, admittedly he hated that a part of him was waiting for the blow-up too. They hadn't talked since that stupid day when she said she was leaving, and the thought of talking to her scared him to death. He didn't want to talk about everything that had happened during her senior year, but he knew either she would be dead set on forgetting everything or she would demand they talk about it. Although, unknown to everyone else, he had gone out to California just last week to check in on her, like he had every two weeks since the day she left. He couldn't take the thought of her being alone and unprotected all the time though, so he had called Cheyenne.

_They met in London, way back in the summer of '69. She had been the only sexy bartender of the pub he frequented that knew how to flirt with him while keeping the conversation going. Damon tried to bring Cheyenne home with him every night the first week he met her, but she kept promising she would only be with her boyfriend, Liam, no one else. _

_ Regardless, Damon became bar buddies with her while she worked, shielding her from all the other creeps. One exceptionally drunk night, he had accidentally told her his secret, initially, she thought the bourbon had finally gotten to him, until he showed his fangs. Somehow that had only made her feel safer around him. _

_ So when she came into the pub on her day off, sobbing and walking right into Damon's arms, asking him to kill Liam he knew she really meant it. Turns out Liam had been sleeping with her best friend for the past 3 months because she "worked too much". Just as she finished telling Damon about finding them together, Liam had the nerve to come barging into the pub, bee-lining to the pair yelling, "See? Why should it matter that I cheated on you! We have a little fight and you go straight to some other guy's arms!" Damon looked Liam over during his little fit. Smirking to himself, Damon let go of Cheyenne and grabbed Liam, barely noticing him trying to get out of Damon's grip, dragging him to the alley on the side of the pub. _

_ "Now, let's try to be civilized adults shall we? I have _very _sensitive ears and all your yelling doesn't please them, so stop."_

_ "Oh yeah, buddy? Who do you think you are? Cheyenne is _my_ girl; don't go thinking you can just steal her from me!"_

_ Damon smirked at that, "She's _your _girl? Really? You're trying to claim her after openly admitting to cheating on her with her _best_ friend? I mean I don't know much about the girl code, but surely there are like fifty violations of it in this situation."_

_ "The girl code isn't the point Damon. The point is that he's a no good, cheating, scumbag who deserves to have his skull cracked open." Cheyenne said as she came out the back door, holding a bat. _

_ "Chey, baby, you don't mean that. If it makes you feel better half the time I was with her, I was imaging it was you!"_

_ Cheyenne started walking towards Liam, "'If it makes me feel better' IN WHAT WORLD WOULD THAT KNOWELGE MAKE ME FEEL BETTER?" Damon intercepted her before she got in hitting range. He didn't want her to be the cause of a death, but knowing her temper, she would nearly kill the guy if she got started. _

_ "No, Chey. You're not gunna hit him. Not yet." _

_ "But, _Damon…_" _

_ "Let her hit me! She's not strong enough to do any lasting damage! She's just a bartending _girl_ for God's sake!" _

_ Damon took the bat from Cheyenne, and turned to face Liam, "WOULD YOU SHUT THE FUCK _UP_?" He accented his words with a swing of the bat to Liam's legs. Damon dropped the bat, reaching for the front of Liam's shirt and pulling him up, "Now, you will apologize to Chey, she and I are going to grab any of her stuff from your place, then you will disappear from her life forever. Got it?"_

_ Liam's pupils dilated, but his fear kept him from speaking so he simply nodded._

* * *

_While they were packing up her stuff at Liam's apartment, Chey started crying. Damon didn't know what to do, he wasn't one to take care of crying girls, let alone sort of care about said crying girl. "Hey, Chey. Uh, why are you crying?" _

_ Chey laughed emptily, "I just realized I have no one left. My only friend was my boyfriend's mistress, so they're both out. I don't have any siblings, and mom drugged herself into oblivion after dad died in the war. It's just me." _

_ Acting on a strange impulse, he went over to hold her, "You've got me." _

_ She sniffled, "Damon, will you...turn me?" _

_ He tensed at that, "Chey...you don't want this. Killing for food, never feeling anything...It's not for you." _

_ "Don't you get it? I don't _want_ to feel! I _want_ to get rid of this pain. So fucking turn me!" _

_ "Do you realize what has to happen for you to turn? Huh? You have to _die_! I'm _not_ going to _kill_ you!" Chey walked towards the kitchen with Damon hot on her tail, "What the hell are you doing?" _

_ "You wont kill me, so I'll do it myself." she stated, looking through a drawer of knives._ _She selected a nice long, pointy knife, showing Damon, "Will this work? I would think so but-" _

_ Damon took the knife from her grip, "You _will not_ kill yourself! If you were to take this knife and stab yourself in whatever misguided way you _would_ use to kill yourself, you would be dead. I mean dead-dead, not-coming-back dead." _

_ "God. First you say I have to die to turn; now you say I'd just end up really dying. Just tell me how to really turn into a mother fucking vampire already! I'm not in the mood for one of your games!"_

_ "I sure as hell will _not_ tell you how to turn! Just because you think you're ready for this now doesn't mean you will be when you wake up and then it'll be too late!"_

_ "DAMMIT, DAMON. THIS IS WHAT I WANT."_

_ "You know what? Fine." Damon used the knife to cut into his wrist before shoving it into Chey's mouth. "Drink up. You'll need it." When he was sure she had enough blood in her system to turn, he moved his arms so that they were cupping her face. "Remember, you wanted this." Were the last words she heard before he snapped her neck._

* * *

_They spent nearly twenty years together after that, being the other's only real friend, and occasional friend with benefits, when they couldn't find any one attractive enough to sleep with that night. He taught her all the perks of being a vampire, but also how to control herself in public and how to get herself out of tough situations. She taught him that having a friend doesn't totally suck. When they finally came across Stefan, he had been with Lexi and to say the girls didn't hit it off was the understatement of the year, so Chey decided to try life on her own. _

_ Damon had last seen her when he was on one of the "Find Stefan and Get Him Away From Klaus" road trips. They quickly recapped their lives since their separation and she had been begging to meet Elena, so when he realized Elena was going to Stanford whether or not he liked it, he made the call._


	3. Welcome Home

**AN: Thank you guys so, so much for your reviews and alerts. You have no idea how happy they make me. This chapter is short but the next one needed to be separate. Also, thank you Chey, Jess and Whit for letting me use your names (ackleswhore, RebekahAteMyUn and northmanwhore on twitter). Anyway, on with the chapter..**

Chapter 3: Welcome Home

_**So long that I've been gone**_

_**If there's one thing I know, **_

_**There's no place like home**_

"_'Lena_, are we almost there? I've needed to pee since we entered Virginia!"

"Jess, calm down. We just passed the 'Welcome to Mystic Falls' sign. You would have seen it if you weren't so focused on your story." Whitney jokingly scolded Jessica in the back seat of Elena's car.

Chey laughed as Elena replied, "Almost. Hey, is it okay if I just drop you guys off at my house? There's something I need to deal with."

Jessica looked up from her laptop at that, "Elena, we don't know your brother or Alaric. We need you there as a buffer."

Whitney chimed in, "Yeah, besides, you told us this used to be a war zone for you. How do we know you won't end up dying doing whatever this 'thing' is?"

"I won't die doing this okay? It's just something I really need to take care of before Jeremy's graduation. I'll be perfectly safe."

Chey watched Elena getting tenser as she talked about this and finally figured out what this "thing I have to deal with" was. Deciding to help she said, "Guys let her go, she's lived here all her life. If she says it's safe for her to go, then we have to believe her."

Jessica and Whitney gaped at her. Ever since they had met each other, Chey had been fiercely protective of all of them, Elena especially, yet she was giving the okay on this?

Whitney spoke the thought on both of their minds, "Are we missing something here? Since when do you agree with Elena going off on her own?"

"She doesn't get to 'let' me do anything, this is my choice." Elena complained.

Chey ignored that, "Since I know she'll be safe where she's going. I'm all for her dealing with this alone."

Elena pulled to a stop in front of her childhood home, but no one noticed as they were all looking at Chey. "Wait, what? You know where i'm going?"

"Of course I do." Chey smiled at her, then looking out the window. "Oh good! We're here!" she hopped out of the car, moving to the trunk, taking their bags out.

The other girls looked at each other before getting out as well, grabbing their bags and walking towards the door. Chey pulled Elena back a little from the other two, "You're still going to go deal with it right? They didn't guilt you into staying did they?"

"Chey, what do you think I'm going to do?"

They were interrupted by Jeremy running out and hugging Elena, spinning her around, "'Lena! You're finally here! What took you so long?"

She smiled as he set her down, "Hey, Jer. Listen I've got to go do something, but can you make sure they get settled in? I'll probably only be a few hours."

Jeremy searched her face, seeing she was clearly worried about something, "Elena, what's wrong? You've been here for all of three minutes, did you somehow manage to find a threat already?"

"No, I just need to deal with it before I do anything else. I'll be fine, I promise."

Jeremy nodded and turned to Chey, holding his hand out, "Hi, I'm Jeremy, who are you?"

Chey smirked, taking his hand, "Cheyenne. You can call me Chey."

"Nice to meet you. Can I take those for you?" he pointed at the bags in her hands.

She nodded, handing them to him before turning to hug Elena, "Go. You need to do this. I'll tell Alaric you said hi." Elena smiled, hugging Jeremy again then walking back to her car.

Her mind was blank as she drove the familiar roads. Her heart started pounding when she finally pulled into his driveway, stopping in front of the house. Before she lost her lack of thoughts, she walked quickly to the giant door, ringing the bell a couple of times. Just as she was about to use the door knocker as well, the guy she wanted to see opened the door, leaning on it like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Damon." She breathed.


	4. Same Mistakes

Chapter 4: Same Mistakes

_**That's what crazy is**_

_**When it's broke and you say there's nothing to fix**_

_**And you pray, pray, pray that everything will be okay**_

_**While you're making all the same mistakes**_

Her mind was blank as she drove the familiar roads. Her heart started pounding when she finally pulled into his driveway, stopping in front of the house. Before she lost her lack of thoughts, she walked quickly to the giant door, ringing the bell a couple of times. Just as she was about to use the door knocker as well, the guy she wanted to see opened the door, leaning on it like he didn't have a care in the world.

"Damon." She breathed.

"What are you doing here?"

"We need to talk."

He smirked, leaving the door wide enough for her to come in, walking over to his drink cart. "Shouldn't you be home with Ric and Jeremy, hugging and telling tales of life at Stanford?"

She shrugged, "Probably. But I needed to talk to you, so here I am."

"Oh? What ever do we need to talk about?" He poured himself a drink, slowly sipping the bourbon.

"I don't know, Damon. How about the fact that I called you everyday since I left and you ignored every single call?"

"Maybe I didn't want to talk to you."

"Or maybe you were hurt because I left."

"No, I don't think that's it. But does it really matter if I ignored your calls? I knew you were safe; you had Stefan and Ric watching me and filling you in. We didn't need a phone call to confirm all of it."

"I wasn't just calling to check in on you! I missed talking to you, telling you about my day. You making me laugh when I was upset. I needed that but you ignored me every time."

"I thought the whole point of going across the country was to forget your past, Elena. I'm part of that past, you should have forgotten me."

"Forgotten you? Damon you know I can't do that. After everything that we've been through, I can't forget you. Trust me, i've tried."

"Well clearly you didn't try hard enough! Just go home to Ric and Jeremy. Leave me alone."

"I'm not leaving, we haven't solved anything!"

"There's nothing _to_ solve!" Damon paused as he saw Stefan standing in the doorway. "Whatever, _I'll_ leave then."

"Damon!" Elena cried as he walked out the door, leaving her alone with Stefan.

"So how's your first day back?"

Elena smiled, a tear falling down her cheek, "It sucks. I should probably get back home though. I left Chey, Whitney and Jess all alone with Ric and Jer."

"You sure you'll be okay?" Stefan turned on his broody, worried face, looking at her tear.

Elena nodded as she walked to the door. "I'll be fine. Tell Bekah I said hi"

* * *

Elena let a few more tears escape as she drove home, finally composing herself as she pulled onto her street. She wished that everyone would be asleep but she knew no one in that house would even think about sleep until she showed up safe and unharmed, physically anyway. She walked up the path slowly, hoping to prolong her time alone to process Damon's words. Surely he hadn't relapsed and stopped caring in her absence? No, Stefan and Ric would have mentioned it.

"Elena! Get in here! It's almost like you don't want to see me." Alaric pouted in the doorway, clearly drunk.

"Sorry Ric. I just had a lot on my mind."

Behind him, Jeremy yelled, "Hey look! Lena's home!"

Whitney giggled, "Elena! Come drink with us!"

Elena walked into the house to see everyone nearly wasted. "I don't think that's a good idea, in fact how about we put the alcohol away and go to bed?"

There was a chorus of "But _Elena_!"s

"No buts." she pointed at Jess, Whitney and Jeremy, "You three will hate yourselves in the morning, especially you, Jer. You have school." As she moved to clean up some of the bottles she continued, "And clearly Chey and Ric were racing each other to the bottom of the bottle. Is there even any alcohol left in this house? You know what, don't answer that. Just go to bed. Come on." she ushered everyone upstairs. Within a minute of hitting their beds, each of them were out like a light.

* * *

Elena awoke in time to wake up both Ric and Jeremy so that they got to school on time. She was starting the coffee when she heard someone coming through the door. Damon walked in just as she looked up from the coffee maker

"Hey did Ric already leave?"

"Yeah, why?"

"I was put in charge of making sure they got to school. But since you already took care of it, I guess I can go now."

"No Damon wait, we still need to talk"

"There's nothing to talk about Elena! You left, I moved on. Easy."

"I needed some time alone to figure everything out. Time to figure out you and me. Time away from all the supernatural stuff. Just… time."

"Right and how did that totally human time work for you? Do you have the answers to life now? Hmm? Did all your human friends tell you how to fix your life with their human ideas?"

"Yeah, actually they did. They helped me a lot."

"Well isn't that great, the humans fixed all your problems. Let me guess, did you cover up the fact that all your problems were supernatural?"

"I was going to, until Chey told us what she was..." Chey chose that moment to enter.

He turned to look at her, "Well aren't you a pretty little thing?"

"Ugh. I'm gross and hung over. I'm in no mood for you, Cocky." Elena was about to tell Damon to leave Chey alone until he said, "Well that's a new one. You used to love me."

"I never loved you at 8am. It had to be after 10 in the morning for any affection to appear."

Elena recovered, "Wait, you guys know each other?"

They both laughed, Chey replying first, "you could say that…"

"I turned her."

"What?" she looked at Chey, "Every time I said anything about him, you knew who I was talking about? The whole time I told you about my life and you knew him? How could you not tell me?"

"Elena, look I didn't do it to hurt you. I-"

"I told her she couldn't tell you."

"Why wouldn't she be allowed to tell me?"

"Because I sent her to protect you! You wouldn't take any of us with you, so I had to do /something/! She was the something."

Elena was dumbfounded. "God. So you sent someone to stalk me? That's low, Damon, even for you. And what does that mean about our friendship, Chey? Was any of it real?"

"Of course it was Elena! When Damon first told me about you all I wanted to do was meet you, you were the first person that made him truly care about others! I was begging him to let me meet you, to see why the hell he would torture himself so much for a girl. But he kept saying no. then he called me, asking if I would move to California and go to school with you, befriend you if I wanted to, so that he would know you were safe. So I did. After the first day of hanging out with you, I realized why he loved you so much. Hell, I was starting to fall in love with you. After that, everything I ever said to you was true. Even when I gave you advice about him, I meant it. All of it."

"Look, Chey, I'm sure you did, but that doesn't change the fact that our friendship feels like a big fat lie. And as for you Damon, I don't even know…"

Jess and Whitney came in at that point. Even in their hung over state, they could feel the tension in the room. The three of them were silent, all looking in different directions.

"So, uh, what's going on? Who's this?" Whitney finally asked, looking at Damon in all his black, leather clad glory.

He smirked at them, "You two must be Jessica and Whitney, I'm Damon. Elena's… Friend."

Chey laughed quietly at Whitney's and Jess's reactions to Damon knowing their names. It was a look she had seen often while he picked up girls during those twenty odd years, all googly eyes and small grins.

"Right, he's my friend who needs to leave." Elena finally looked at him, urging him to leave with her doe eyes.

"Oh I don't know, just a half hour ago you were telling me to stay. I mean I know you've always been one for mixed signals but this is about more than just you. These lovely ladies don't want me to leave yet do they?" He waggled his eyebrows, giving her his signature look.

Chey smirked, curious as to how this would play out, both Damon and Elena were notoriously stubborn. Jess and Whitney were still standing in the entrance to the kitchen staring at Damon.

As much as Elena wanted to win this silent battle of wills that was happening between her and Damon, she had missed him so much over the past year to really force him out of the house. So Damon spent the day teasing her and Chey, slightly confusing Jess and Whitney because none of them were ready to recap what had happened in the kitchen that morning.

**AN: Seriously guys, all the alerts make me extremely happy. I love you all for each one. Keep reading and reviewing please?**


	5. We'll Make It There, Sooner Than Later

**AN: I'm so sorry about the wait, I just couldn't find the words for this chapter. I hope it doesn't suck as much as I think it does. Your alerts and favorites mean the world to me so thank you.**

Chapter 5: We'll Make It There, Sooner Than Later

_**You make me crazier, crazier, crazier, oh**_

_**Baby you showed me what livin' is for**_

_**I don't wanna hide anymore**_

Elena was looking through the mail the next morning, waiting for everyone to come down for breakfast before Jeremy and Ric went to their last day of school. There were a few bills, and a thick, official looking envelope addressed to the Gilbert family. She immediately opened it finding Jeremy's senior year picture and a fancy sheet of paper with curly letters saying:

With great pride, I

Jeremy Gilbert

am proud to announce

my Graduation from

Mystic Falls High School

Come celebrate my achievement

at the Mikaelson Manor

on Sunday, the fifth of June

two thousand and twelve

at five o'clock in the afternoon.

Buffet dinner provided by

Caroline Forbes and Klaus Mikaelson.

"Hey, what are you looking at?" Jeremy asked, walking to the coffee maker.

Elena turned to him, showing him the card, "An invite to a graduation party I didn't even know you were having."

"Oh yeah, Caroline asked if she could throw me one, so I said why not?" He said as he poured himself some coffee.

"Do you even know whose going?"

Jeremy shrugged, "I told her that as long as everyone in our non-family was invited, I didn't care who else came."

Elena sighed, "I feel like a horrible sister for not even thinking about a graduation party for you."

He put his mug on the counter, moving to hug her, "Don't worry about it, you are the over-caring, semi-suicidal sister, Caroline has always been the find-a-reason-for-a-party sister."

"Wow, Jer. Is that what you tell all your friends?" She smiled into his shoulder.

"Yes. They don't get it though." He smirked, stepping back.

"Food. I need food." Jess complained, walking into the kitchen. Whitney, Chey and Ric all following in behind her.

"Well lucky for all of you, I got up too early and made pancakes!" Elena smiled, showing off the stack of pancakes on a large plate.

* * *

They had all left early for Jeremy's party because Caroline insisted on meeting Chey, Jess, and Whitney and seeing Elena, before the party got underway. So there had been plenty of time for Elena and Caroline to get caught up. There was also enough time for Elena to ask if Caroline had invited Damon, and if he had said he would be here—multiple times and every time, the answer was yes.

Elena had been talking to Carol Lockwood about college and such when she finally felt his presence. She couldn't explain it, but she just _knew _he was there. She looked to the door to see him; dark jeans that were hanging just low enough on his hips, black leather jacket over a black t-shirt, his dark hair perfectly messy, his jewel-like blue eyes finding hers. She heard herself saying, "Excuse me, Carol." before walking over to him.

He smirked when she finally got to him, "Well I never thought I would be in this house for a _graduation_ party."

"It does seem a little strange, doesn't it? You know, we missed you at the actual graduation."

"I was there, just hidden."

"Oh yes, we can't have the townspeople thinking you've gone soft by showing up at a _high school graduation_. Dances are one thing, but graduation? No way, that's not how _the_ Damon Salvatore rolls, right?" Elena laughed at him.

He jokingly pouted, "Hey, you love my dance moves."

"How would I know? You still haven't shown me all of them."

Damon could here the beginning of a new song in the ballroom, "I guess we have to fix that don't we? Besides it wouldn't be a party at the Mikaelson place if we didn't dance to 'Give Me Love'." He offered her his arm, "Shall we?"

"It _is_ tradition." Elena smiled as she took his arm, allowing him to lead her to the ballroom.

They entered the room, where a bunch of teens were slow dancing in a square shape like most teens do, but that didn't suffice for Damon. He pulled Elena close, waltzing her around the room as he had the last time they danced. Everyone around them noticed, giving them a wide bubble of space. Damon and Elena didn't notice the people watching them; they were in both a figurative and literal bubble of their own, never looking away from each other. They just barely noticed when the song was over; but even as they stopped dancing, they didn't let go of the other.

Elena started pulling him away from the crowd, towards the sweeping double staircase, taking him up to the room she had met Esther in. She burst into the room, stopping when she felt Damon let go of her hand. He was standing there, in front of the now closed door, watching her. He had decided long ago that if anything happened between them, it would be because she started it.

"What now, Elena?"

She didn't know what to say, she had avoided this for three years, there was only one option now. She basically ran the short distance to him, her lips crashing onto his, his arms encircling her and pulling her closer. They kissed like that for what felt like hours, before she started trying to push his jacket off his shoulders.

He grabbed her hands, rolling his shoulders so that his jacket was back in its proper position, "No."

"Damon, we have been saying 'no' since the day I met you."

"As true as that is, we are not going to do this for the first time in some spare room at _Klaus' _house. I want it to be in a place more special than _this._"

"Fine, let's go to my porch. We've had plenty of moments there."

"Well aren't you a little exhibitionist?" he smirked at her. "We should probably avoid your house all together."

"Why? My house is perfectly nice; we've had great moments there."

"Yes we have, _but_ there are currently five other people planning on sleeping there tonight. That's why we're going to my house. Come on." He began pulling her out of the room, back down the stairs.

"Your house? What about Stefan and Bekah?" She allowed him to pull her to his car.

"They'll barely notice us. Trust me. They will be solely focused on themselves." He said as he got in the drivers seat, driving to the boarding house way above the speed limit.

When he parked the car in front of the house, Damon utilized is vampire speed to run over to Elena's door and open it, lifting her out and carrying her into the house. Elena couldn't wait any longer and began kissing him the minute his foot stepped over the threshold. He kissed her back with everything he had, carrying her up to his room. She paused when they went into his room, memories of the previous times she had been here coming back: "'I can't lose you.' 'You won't.'", "'I love you Elena, you should know that.' 'I do.'".

Damon watched her, clearly remembering their past, "You okay?"

She nodded, "Yeah, fine. Just thinking…"

"About?"

"How many times I've had the opportunity to be here, with you, and yet I always left."

"Well don't leave this time."

"I won't." she kissed him again, picking up right where they left off.

* * *

**I didn't mean for this to be the end, but it just fit and I don't know where to go after this anyway. One last review?  
**

**_Alright, IF enough people can guilt me into coming up with more I MIGHT do it._  
**


	6. The Morning After

**Alright, so you guys convinced me to continue, (not a big surprise really). Like I said, I don't have any plans for how this will end. This is mainly a filler chapter until I get ideas. I probably won't post again until the end of July because I'm going on vacation. Oh and a BIG thank you to Jess for helping me through this, it wouldn't be here without her. Anyway, I hope you enjoy. **

Chapter 6: The Morning After

"Well hello, Elena. Fancy seeing you here at this hour…" Rebekah smirked, looking at Elena wearing one of Damon's button down shirts. "Wearing _that_."

"Yeah, well, it was either this or go naked. I mean, it's not like Stefan hasn't seen it all before."

"Whatever, I bet Damon enjoyed our sex much more than he did with you." She sneered.

"Don't talk about things you don't know, Blondie." Damon came up behind Elena, wrapping his arms around her waist and kissing the side of her head, "Hello."

Elena leaned in to his embrace, "Hi."

"You disappeared."

"I needed something to drink, Bekah distracted me."

Rebekah watched them, wondering if she and Stefan were this gooey, "It's not my fault you ran into me wearing my ex-lover's shirt."

Elena smirked at Rebekah's choice of Stefan's shirts, "Well I can say the same to you, except Damon only used you for sex and Stefan actually did love me."

"Stefan loved me before he loved you; he even came back to me." Rebekah scoffed.

"Obviously Stefan loved you first Blondie, you're as old as dirt."

"Age brings experience, Damon."

"Well clearly your age didn't do shit for you, because Elena was a thousand times better than you."

"I doubt that. Stefan had her how many times and he still came back."

"Stefan also enjoys killing Bambi. His preferences will always baffle me."

Rebekah couldn't come up with a decent response so she strutted back up stairs, leaving Damon and Elena standing at the entry to the kitchen.

Elena turned in Damon's arms, to look at him, "Is she always that pleasant in the morning?"

He smirked at her, "I wouldn't know, I don't usually wake up in the morning."

"You woke up to make sure Jeremy and Ric got to school the other day."

"Yeah, well I didn't have a hangover that morning." Before Elena could reply, her stomach growled. "Seems someone is hungry, come on." Damon pulled Elena into the kitchen, letting her go to start riffling through the cabinets.

"What are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?"

She sat on the counter he wasn't using to hold his supplies, "It looks like you're looking for food, when I'm perfectly capable of making breakfast myself."

"I'd like to say otherwise."

"I always use my old family's pancake recipe, it's great."

Damon paused in his search for materials to look at Elena, "I knew your old family, and they couldn't cook. Didn't we figure this out when discussing your chili recipe?"

"That chili was good!"

"Because I fixed it!"

"Sure you did. That chili was great, just like my pancakes. You just wish you could make them as good as me." Elena pouted from her perch on the counter.

Damon smirked as he began mixing things into a bowl, "Oh yeah? You'll be singing a different tune once your taste buds fall in love with _my_ pancakes."

"God, Rebekah was right, you guys are gross." Stefan entered the kitchen, looking at Damon and Elena with a fake grossed out face.

"What do you mean 'gross', my dear brother? Both Elena and I are extremely attractive people; there is nothing gross about us."

"Not physically, but you two as a couple is kind of nauseating in its gooey couple-ness and you've only been together for like nine hours, most of which was spent sleeping."

"Brother, we both know only about three of those hours were spent sleeping." Damon paused his stirring to give Stefan one of his eye things.

"Damon, can we please not have this discussion with him at 7:30am? It seems unfair to everyone."

"Yes Damon, let's not have this discussion with me 7:30 in the morning. Or preferably, ever."

"Fine. I need to concentrate on these pancakes anyway."

45 minutes and a dozen pancakes later, Elena had finally finished breakfast without any more interruptions from Stefan or Rebekah.

"Ugh, you were right." Elena sighed, pushing the plate away from her.

Damon laughed at her pained expression while she admitted his being right, "I usually am, but about what this time?"

She pouted, "My taste buds _are_ in love with your pancakes."

Damon smirked, "Don't pout, 'Lena; deep down, you knew I would be right, anyway. You're just too stubborn to admit it." He stood, grabbing both of their plates and bringing them to the sink.

Elena glared at his back, "I was not too stubborn! How would I know that your pancakes would be amazing, I've never had them!"

"You would know because everything about me is amazing, you even said so yourself if I'm remembering last night correctly."

Elena grinned deviously, "How would you have even heard me? You were screaming my name so loud I'm surprised you could even hear yourself think."

"I could hear you because you were screaming louder than I was, not to mention I have superhuman hearing."

Rebekah came in, with a compact in her hand while she put more powder on her face, "Well we could hear both of you the minute we got out of the car, so please keep it down next time. The noise seriously cut down my beauty sleep time."

Elena tried to hold back a smile at the ridiculousness of the statement, Damon however didn't have that kind of self control, "Well, if being locked in a coffin for 90 years didn't help, I don't think a few more hours will make a difference, Bex."

"One would think that after nearly a year and a half of living together under good terms that you two could be nicer to each other." Stefan shook his head as he walked into the kitchen, kissing the side of Rebekah's head.

Rebekah pouted, "It's not my fault he's always being a dick."

Damon smirked at her, "It is your fault that you give me every opportunity to mess with you."

Stefan rolled his eyes, putting his arm around Rebekah's waist, "No one but you enjoys Damon-humor, Damon."

"Again with this 'Damon-humor' thing, I honestly don't know what you're talking about."

Stefan sighed, "You know exactly what I'm talking about."

Elena had been sitting in her spot at the table, enjoying watching the three of them, clearly happy even while they're making fun of each other. She stood then, "As much fun as it is to watch you all do your annoy-each-other-for-no-reason act, I need a shower so I'm gunna go upstairs."

"Can I come too?" Damon smirked, giving her his eye thing.

She gave him a playful smirk of her own, "I was planning to actually get _clean_ during this shower."

"What's wrong with getting a little… _dirtier_ before cleaning up?"

"Waste of water." She kissed his cheek, "You could clean up your mess in here though. See you later, Stefan, Bekah."

Damon watched Elena walk out of the room before turning to the sink to deal with the dishes, "I swear, that woman will be the end of me."

"Probably, if you're not the end of her first. Oh, Stefan! It's past 8:20, we need to get moving; Carol will be pissed if we're late."

"Late for what?"

"Carol needs our help to set up for the Festival of a Thousand Roses." Stefan explained as Rebekah turned to leave.

"What's the point of this festival?"

"To raise money for the High School greenhouse."

"They're having a festival to raise money for a greenhouse?" Damon shook his head, "The things Carol comes up with."

**If you guys have any ideas of what you'd like to see please tell me, I'm open to pretty much anything. Especially about what I should do at the festival, I have literally no ideas. R&R 3**


	7. Aloha

**I didn't think I'd have this until tomorrow at the earliest so yay for everyone because I was able to get home from my vacation a day early! **

Chapter 7: Aloha

_**I don't, I don't, don't know what it is**_

_**But I need that one thing**_

_**And you've got that one thing**_

Damon heard Elena coming back down the stairs as he started pouring himself a drink.

"Really? It's not even 10 yet and you're already drinking?" Elena laughed, walking into the foyer.

Damon smirked, sipping his drink, "There is never a bad time for a glass of good bourbon."

Elena smirked back at him, "I'm sure there are plenty of bad times for a glass of bourbon."

"Doubtful. Where'd you get that outfit?"

Elena looked down at her tank top and shorts combo, "What you don't like it?"

"Anything that shows off those legs; I love. But how did you manage a new outfit? Or did you steal it from Bekah?"

"No, it's mine. I brought a bunch of clothes over way back when life was out to get me, just in case I needed them on short notice."

"How forward thinking of you. So what would you like to do today?"

"I need you to bring me home. Chey called while I was in the shower and demanded to know what happened with us last night."

Damon shook his head, "I need to have a talk with that girl; she's always trying to get involved in my life."

"That's not my fault, you're the reason she even met me." Elena grinned at him.

"She wanted to meet you anyway. But you weren't going anywhere unprotected."

Elena frowned, "I drove all the way to Stanford unprotected and lived."

"You weren't unprotected; I followed you to make sure you were safe." Damon sighed.

"Did the lack of killing people give you a need to get a new hobby, causing all your stalker tendencies to become pronounced?"

"No, I promised that I would never leave you again. That whole ordeal was me keeping that promise, not that you made it easy on me." Damon's phone rang, seeing the name he answered, "Ms. Cheyenne, how are you this lovely morning?"  
_"Where's Elena?"_

"What ever makes you think I know?"

_"Damon, don't pull this shit. Everyone saw you and Elena leave Klaus' last night. Now, why didn't she call me back?"_

"You called her? And she didn't call back?" Damon smirked at Elena as she moved closer to him. "How _rude_." Elena gave him a 'must you?' look, standing in front of him to wrap her arms around him. "Look, Elena's fine. She'll compare notes with you later. But right now, I've gotta go."

_"What do you mean you've gotta go? Did I interrupt you two doing or something?" _Jeremy could be heard complaining about permanent mental scarring.

"No, you didn't. I wouldn't have even looked at the phone had we been doing it."

_"Sure, whatever. Just bring her home soon."_

"Will do. Bye now." Damon hung up quickly, not wanting to prolong the conversation any longer because Elena had started kissing his still naked chest. "I thought you had to leave?"

She pulled her lips away as he wrapped his arms around her, "I do; I was just saying an early goodbye."

"Seems more like a 'hello' to me."

She kissed the corner of his lips, "Well it's like the word 'aloha'; it could mean both."

"I say we take it as a 'hello' and go back upstairs."

"Mmm," Elena pretended to think about it, "No, I can't. You told Chey that I would go 'compare notes' with her, whatever that means."

"If we go upstairs, you'll have more notes to compare."

"Nope, sorry. You know how she gets, I don't need her to come here and drag me out kicking and screaming."

Damon furrowed his eyebrows, "You say that like it's happened before."

Elena shrugged, "It might have happened at some point, which is why you should hop in the car and drive me home."

"You're not going to elaborate?"

"Not at all." Elena kissed him lightly. Damon deepened it, hoping to convince her to stay longer. She pulled back after a few minutes, "I still need a ride."

"If I really do have to drive you, we have plenty of time."

"Nope. You will put this on," she pulled one of his shirts out of her bag that matched the jeans he was already wearing and handed it to him. "And then you will drive me home."

"And if I don't?" he pouted, holding the shirt in his hands.

She smirked at his pout, "I definitely won't come over tonight."

He sighed and put the shirt on, "Since when did you become a great negotiator?"

"Since I had to learn how to convince Chey to let me do anything. Needless to say you trained her well in the ways of overprotecting."

Damon laughed as they walked out the door. He opened the car door for her, noticing a very concentrated look on her face. When he got in on his side, she said in a thoughtful, worried tone, "Hey, Damon?"

"Yes, Elena?"

"What exactly did you mean when you said Chey and I would compare notes?"

"Chey and I had a friends with benefits relationship way back when."

"So you...and her...had sex...a lot?"

"It was strictly boredom, lonely sex. Nothing more, nothing less. I love her like a sister whom I've slept with. So don't worry about it okay?" He looked at her, trying to convince her with his eyes.

"It's just... how do I know you wont go back to her if we get in some giant fight?"

"Elena, neither Chey nor I would do that to you. I swear." He could see the indecision in her eyes; half insecure, half convinced. So he tried a different tactic, "Did Chey ever tell you why she turned into a vampire?"

Elena looked at him, confused at the question, "Yeah, she said she was all alone and the guy that turned her took pity on her."

Damon shook his head, laughing humorlessly, "Right, well she left out the part that she had no one because her boyfriend of a year had been cheating on her with her best friend. So trust me when I say, me and her as anything more than good friends ended the second she befriended you."

"Why didn't she ever tell me any of that?"

"She wanted to forget about it, so don't bring it up alright?" Damon said as he pulled up to her curb.

"Alright." Elena leaned over to kiss him passionately before getting out of the car and going up to her house. As she walked through the door, she was nearly run over by Jeremy.

"Oh good, you're home. I guess I should go hide in my room now."

"Why would you have to do that?"  
"Just because I know you and Damon did it, doesn't mean I wanna hear about it."

She laughed, "Fair enough."

Jeremy ran upstairs as Chey, Whitney and Jess came out of the kitchen yelling, "Elena! Why didn't you pick up when I called?"

"I was in the shower!"

"Whatever. I wanna hear all the dirty details!" Jess said as she and Whitney pulled Elena into the living room. They all sat down, jumping a little when Caroline burst through the front door, "DID I MISS IT? DID SHE ALREADY START WITHOUT ME?"

Whitney took pity on Caroline, calling her into the living room with them, "No, she was just about to start."

"Oh good," Caroline sat down, looking at Elena expectedly, "Well go on! Spill!"

Elena smiled at her friends, "Well alright. So after our dance, we went up to a room at Klaus'..."

Carol called just as Damon was pulling away from Elena's curb, asking him to come to the high school to help with the floats for the festival. He went over reluctantly, walking down the halls of the school, towards Alaric's classroom.

"Damon?" Ric asked as Damon came in.

"Ah, Ricky, ole friend, how are you?" Damon smirked as he sat on the end of Ric's desk.

Ric frowned at him, "Are you drunk?"

"What? No. Can't a guy be extremely happy without the assistance of booze?"

"In most people's case? Yes. Yours however..."

Damon grinned, "Well Elena _is_ delicious. Like a fine wine, if you will."

"Oh, ugh, I _so_ don't want to hear about you and my sort of daughter."

Damon got up to clap Ric on the back, "Hey buddy, you asked."

Carol walked in, "Oh good, Damon you're here. I need you and Alaric to come help with the floats." She started walking away, to turn back to them, "Come on!"

Damon and Ric followed her out to the back parking lot. Damon asked, "So what do we have to do exactly?"

"Just build the stages on these floats, and then cover _everything_ with this fencing." she pointed to a pile of lattice with small square openings.

Ric poked at the pile, "Why the fencing?"

Carol looked at him incredulously, "So the florist group can wind all the roses onto them, of course!"

Someone called Carol over to inspect their work, leaving Damon to laugh at Ric, "Yeah, Ric, come on! Why else would there be fencing on it?"

Ric glared, "Shut up. Can we just do this and be done already? I need a drink."

Carol passed them, "That's the spirit!"

Ric and Damon watched her run over to what must be the florist group. "That woman is going to lose it at one of these events at some point." Ric pointed out.

Damon chuckled, "Lucky me, I can stay here forever just to watch it happen."

Just then, Damon picked up on a whispered conversation between two girls walking by.

_ "That guy is __hot__."_

_ "Which one?"_

_ "The black haired sex on legs."_

_ "Oh, good, because the other one is the history teacher."_

_ "Doesn't matter, what's hot guy's deal?"_

_ "My guess? Off limits. He and Elena Gilbert left her brother's graduation party together last night."_

_ "So? It might have been a one night thing. Do you think he could go for me?"_

_ "I can almost guarantee he wouldn't. You're great and all, but you should have seen the way they were looking at each other, totally in love."_

_ "I could be better than this Elena girl." The girl complained in a pouty tone._

_ "No, Elena deserves him. She needs some happy after her high school years."_

The girls went out of Damon's hearing range, but that didn't stop his full on grin. Not only was the town already talking about him and Elena, they were happy for them. Alaric noticed his friend's smile, but chose not to ask in case Damon was thinking about his and Elena's night. He didn't need to think about that any more than absolutely necessary.


End file.
